Has the web empowered people to express themselves openly or is the internet still under the control of the powers that be?

This week’s headlines brought out this question and possible concerns for where the internet is headed.

As the fight between governments and the open web rages on, here is our roundup of this week’s most important tech and society news stories:

#TwitterIsBlockedInTurkey

“We will eradicate Twitter.” That is what Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan told a rally in Bursa, according to the Hurriyet Daily News. Shortly afterwards, the Turkish government blocked access to the social media site alleging that users were posting documents and voice recordings that were considered “privacy violations.”

“Turkish people and the [international] community will see this as censorship. It is,” the European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes told Today’s Zaman.

There are approximately 10 million Twitter users in Turkey and many of them were quick to find a way around the government blockade. #TwitterisblockedinTurkey quickly became a trending topic, putting issues of social media censorship back in the headlines.

For more on how the web can connect us with issues and news events in new and complicated ways, check out journalist Tony Burman‘s talk with rdigitaLIFE here:

Facebook facial recognition

Facebook is living up to its name. The social network is developing software called DeepFace which allows computers to identify faces with 97.25 per cent accuracy, just slighly below human’s ability (97.5%).

But, with Facebook facial recognition nearly as accurate as the human brain, what will this mean for users privacy?

Obama to meet with tech leaders

Following public concern, such as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, about the U.S. government online surveillance practices, Obama agreed to meet with web leaders to discuss internet privacy on Friday. However, according to a statement from Facebook, “While the U.S. government has taken helpful steps to reform its surveillance practices, these are simply not enough.”